Read it again, with the help of 35 year old utility infielder/outfielder Brandon Inge, The Pirates losing streak will end in 2013.

I don’t say this because he will necessarily show up in a big way in the box score every night, that part of his career perhaps is over, and may be why he’s been moved from the Tigers, to the A’s, and now, the Pirates in just a year.

But believe this, Brandon Inge is a winner. He’s a guy who makes the players around him better, and will provide the leadership the Pirates clubhouse has been lacking for the past two decades.

“Inge is athletically gifted, he plays all over the diamond and his defense is where he hangs his hat, but it’s a fair argument to say he’s definitely a winner, and a great teammate,” FOX Sports Detroit anchor John Keating said.

Keating has covered Inge since the Tigers brought him into The Show in 2001, two years before the Tigers set a American League record for the most games lost in a season, just one game away from tying the 1962 Mets fiasco for baseballs worst record ever. Inge was the only player left on the roster once that team was restructured and eventually made it to the World Series in 2006, so he’s been a part of the lowest of lows and the highest of highs.

This is why I think the former All-Star’s input in the clubhouse will be where he makes his mark on this team, this season. (Barring he makes the roster, which I think he will.) Inge has been known to leave bottles of champagne at the lockers of players who have major league firsts. First hit or run in the league, bottles will be poppin’. That may not seem like a lot, but for a clubhouse still finding out how to win, acts like that will go a long way. Having a winning effort to everything a team does can change mindsets when things start to slip.

Instead of signing autographs of posters or cards, Inge becomes the memorabilia as he lets sick kids autograph him before games. Now on two occasions, he’s hit homeruns for the boys in an inspirational made-for-TV moment he himself can’t even believe.

“He’s a great teammate, he’s quirky and a lot of fun to cover,” Keating added. “Clint Hurdle will love him.”

The Pirates remind me of the Tigers in so many ways, but the baseball problems are almost uncanny. Detroit was a city searching for a winning team, craving a World Series birth for the first time since 1984, sick of being the joke. It got its wish with Inge apart of the formula.

The Pirates have made this kind of move before, pick up a veteran and hope it pans out. It hasn’t, as we all know. But it’s this particular veteran that I believe will make the difference for the City and team in 2013.